


It's Called Fate, and It's Great

by evadubs



Series: The Kids Grow Up [1]
Category: Bob's Burgers (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-14 21:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14145366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evadubs/pseuds/evadubs
Summary: Tina reconnects with Jimmy Jr. after high school. This time, he's less of a dick.





	It's Called Fate, and It's Great

**Author's Note:**

> I'm hoping to make this a three part series that follows each of the kids after high school. This will speed through high school and then focus on Tina and Jimmy Jr. in their twenties. 
> 
> 7/5/2018 - I rewrote the first chapter, so some of the scenes of it will now be in the second chapter.

**the summer before high school**

 

Just before Tina turned fourteen, right after her last year of middle school ended, Jimmy Jr. moved away. His mom had gotten remarried and was moving to the West Coast with her new wife. Her new wife had inherited a restaurant from her folks’ over there, and Jimmy Jr.’s mom had always been attracted to a restaurant owner.

According to Zeke, Jimmy Pesto hadn’t put up a strong fight for custody. He had made a series of fart-based jokes and self-indulging statements in the courtroom. The decision had not taken long. Just like that, Jimmy Jr. was gone and Tina was left stunned and miserable. He hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye.

Her family had been incredibly supportive, practically hovering over her all summer. She had groaned her way through work until her dad kindly but firmly banished her. According to him, her aura of sadness had made even Teddy stop his constant babble. So Tina had been politely kicked out, while Gene and Louise unwillingly stayed to cover for her.

“It’s not fair,” Gene had all but yelled during the first week. He stood on his chair at the dinner table. “T, you’re wasting your freedom. Let me go in your place, please!”

Tina had felt guilty, but she was too sad to do anything but hang her head low and shake it side to side in response. Louise had responded by shaking her furiously, to no avail. Her mom and dad had to pull her sister off.

Two weeks passed. Tina spent her freedom laying on a bench at Wonder Wharf. The sounds of the rides and people’s screens effectively drowned out her groans, so at least she wasn’t bothering anyone. She’d lay on her back and stare at the rides swinging people over her. It resulted in a terrible sunburn, which felt right, and deserved.

“Tina?” an incredulous but mocking voice asked her one day. “What are you doing?”

Tina automatically shut her mouth and opened her eyes. Tammy towered over her, hands on hips. A second later, Jocelyn and Zeke appeared behind her.

“Yeah, Tina,” Jocelyn chimed in with concern. “Like, are you okay? Your skin is like, _so_ red.”

Tina sat up and swung her legs off the bench. She automatically pushed her glasses up, ignoring the pain that came with rubbing the metal against her tender sunburned skin. “Oh, hey Tammy, Jocelyn, _Zeke_ ,” she said nonchalantly. “Funny running into you guys here. What’s up?”

“My mom gave me money so we’re getting _prizes_ ,” Jocelyn explained with a level of confidence Tina wasn’t used to hearing. “Wanna come?”

Tina paused, acutely aware of how grossly sunburned her skin was in that moment. With her friends, if they could even be called that, she was used to pushing and fighting for a seat at the table. Her friendships consisted of trailing behind them, fighting off insults from Tammy and fighting for Jimmy Jr.’s attention. To be invited without casually asking to tag along was blowing her mind.  

Luckily, a small part of her remembered how to play the game, and with a smooth, but probably awkward smile, she said, “Yeah sure!”

So they did. It was awkward in the way that new things were awkward. Tina tried to hide her nervousness through non-stop talking. “Oh hey, should we play ring toss! Or maybe darts? I’m not really good at darts. Once I hit the employee with a dart, so they banned me from playing. You guys can play though, I don’t mind watching.” She inhaled deeply, only remembering now to breathe.

“That’s okay,” Jocelyn said absent-mindedly, moving past the booth. “I wanna play with the water-guns anyways.”

They spent the rest of the day wandering around the boardwalk, playing games and eating carnival food. Despite Tammy and Jocelyn’s usual dynamic of Tammy leading and Jocelyn following, Jocelyn seemed to be completely in charge. Tammy never challenged or ordered her to do something else. Instead, she complained about the gross people and conditions.

At one point, Tammy dropped back to Tina, who had been trailing the group. “Hey,” she said, a touch of uncertainty to her voice. “I’m sorry about Jimmy Jr. I’ve never been dumped or left in my life, because boys always want me and I break up with them…” She trailed off for a second, clearly forgetting what she walking about. “But like, it wasn’t cool that he did not say goodbye. And you’re actually,” another hesitation. “Like, really cool. Forget about him.” She then sped forward to Jocelyn before Tina could the sudden outburst.  

Stunned, Tina didn’t even notice Zeke dropping back to her until he spoke.

“J-Ju definitely didn’t treat you right,” he confirmed, hands in his pockets. “He’s been going through some stuff with his mom and didn’t really know what to do. You know the twins are his half-brothers right?”

Tina furrowed her eyebrows. “What? No!”

“Yeah, the Pestos didn’t really talk about it though. So it was just him leaving, and he didn’t like that.” Zeke sighed deeply.

Oh. Tina hadn’t even realized. “Hey Zeke,” she said. “I’m sorry your best friend moved away.”

He smiled sadly. “Thanks Tina-Bina.”

Tammy, Jocelyn, and Zeke walked Tina home at sunset. They were so lost in conversation that they only waved distractedly to Tina as she broke off from the group and went inside the restaurant.

Inside, her family stared at her in surprise.

“T, were you hanging out with freaking Tammy?” Louise all but yelled. She ran up to Tina and began shaking her furiously. “Were you?”

Tina opened her mouth to  answer, but her dad was already dragging Louise away.

“Louise, stop it please,” he begged as Louise fought against him. She continued to yell, “WERE YOU?” as her mom came forward.

“How was your day, Tina?” her mom asked more calmly.

Tina sat at the counter beside Gene. “It was good,” she said, slightly unsure. She peaked at Louise and then very quickly looked away. “I hung out with some people in my grade.”

“I saw that,” her mom said slowly. “Was Tammy nice?”

Tina thought about it. “Yeah, she actually was”

Louise screamed.

 

The next morning, Tina was, according to her mom, temporary on probation to maybe work at the restaurant. She was cleaning menus while Gene and Louise were playing Salt Shaker Shuffleboard. They were finishing up a two week long tournament, and Gene was making a surprising last minute comeback.

Tina was lost in thought, and didn’t even notice the visitor until Gene bumped her and gestured. Jocelyn stood in the doorway, reading the Burger of the Day board.

“Hey Jocelyn,” Tina said quickly. She tried to stand up and immediately fell down, still in the booth. “Ow.”

Jocelyn didn’t react to Tina’s fall. “Hey Tina,” she said, sliding into the booth. She immediately grabbed a dirty menu and Gene’s rag, and began cleaning with Tina. A second later, Tina resumed her task. “You don’t have a phone, right?”

“No, not yet.”

Jocelyn reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “We’re all going to the movies tonight if you want to come. Here’s the information and all our phone numbers.” She slid it across the table.

Tina stared at the paper. “Oh, wow, thanks,” she stammered.”If my parents say yes I’ll come.” She paused. “Thanks Jocelyn for coming by and inviting me.”

“No problem,” Jocelyn responded, finishing cleaning up the menu. She put it in the clean pile and returned the rag to its original spot. “I only live like, two blocks from here.”

“Oh yeah,” Tina responded, remembering she had been there once before.

Jocelyn got up. “See you Tina,” she waved. Tina waved back, watching the door continue to swing after Jocelyn was gone.

“Wow T, it looks like you did make friends,” Gene observed.

 

After that, the summer changed. Tina stopped groaning (well, groaned less), and started hanging out with her friend group. Sure, Tammy still threw an insult her way, and Jocelyn always backed her up, but Zeke ended up being on her side most of the time, so it usually evened out.

They mainly hung at the Wharf or the mall, doing all the things teenagers could do without spending money. Sometimes they hung out at the restaurant, since Tina went back to working, and that was actually nice too. Zeke ended up becoming an unofficial employee, and Tammy was actually pretty good at coming up with Burgers of the Day when her dad was struggling. Things fell into a rhythm that Tina had never even imagined, even in her friend fiction.

So, when the summer ended, and high school started, Tina had friends.


End file.
